We followed as my daughter ushered her young family all the way to the second row of a sold-out theater. I was just as excited as the kids to see Finding Dory. As we settled in, my grandson turned to his mom and said with a freckle-faced grin, “I’ve been waiting for days to see this.”
His mom replied, “I’ve been waiting years.”
No doubt she had. Pixar was as much of a part of her childhood as Walt Disney himself was a part of mine. Although we could feed a small village for the price of taking our large family to the theater, we made seeing films like Finding Nemo and Monsters, Inc. a big deal.
Finding Dory was well worth the wait.
First, let’s get something out of the way. At one time there was a bit of controversy over the upcoming film. Some people pointed to a sneak peek of a scene where two women were next to a baby carriage. They were immediately labeled lesbians. Apparently, it was assumed that they were a family because of the carriage. Spoiler alert: It was not their baby. There is no lesbian family featured in this film.
The only problem I saw with the three-second scene was someone slapping a label on it and rushing to wave it over their agenda. I’ll leave it there. That’s another post.
So don’t be afraid to see this film. It is Pixar at it’s finest.
Finding Dory features the real hero of Finding Nemo which was, after all, Dory. When you think about it, Dory is the perfect heroine for young children. She is flawed, but her heart is aimed squarely at her family, and her courage and determination leads the way for her friends.
What I dearly love about a good Pixar animation is their ability to create a story that I don’t mind my children seeing over and over. Not all Disney films have hit that mark. However, with Pixar in the driver’s seat, they’ve taken an animated story to a whole new level—again.
Finding Dory may seem like something little girls would want to watch more than boys, but again, don’t be afraid to take the entire crew, especially if you have a boy with special needs.
Children with learning disabilities will relate to Dory. The feeling that you just can’t do it…that there are things you know you don’t know, and feeling like you always need someone else’s help—that’s the life of a child with special needs. These are also the inner issues Dory faces. She learns, by pressing in, that she also has inner strengths.
Finding Dory also has a strong family message. The memories she regains that compel her to go find her family all come from her mom and dad and what they taught her when she was little.
So often entertainment for children is just mind-numbing. Not Finding Dory. This will be a treasured movie memory for another generation.
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